In contrast to the ongoing sandstorm debacle in Bahrain, sunny conditions greeted the five teams taking part in the third day of testing at Jerez in Spain.

2008 World Champion Lewis Hamilton was back behind the wheel of the new McLaren Mercedes as the team continued to run the MP4-24 with the 2008 specification rear wing.

While not fully in compliance with the race rules for the coming season, Hamilton was the fastest of those running 2009 machinery today as the British racer completed 93 laps with a best time of 1:20.737s, his best coming on his 23rd lap of the day.

Hamilton's time was six-hundredths of a second quicker than team-mate Heikki Kovalainen's best time recorded on Wednesday.

Sebastien Bourdais, recently confirmed for a second season with the Toro Rosso Ferrari team, was back behind the wheel of the Ferrari-powered STR3 today.

It was Bourdais' first test since early December and the Frenchman duly set the pace overall in his high downforce 2008 machine. Bourdais' 1:18.493s best was nine-tenths off new team-mate Sebastien Buemi's Wednesday best as he gets back up to speed following a long lay-off.

Following Mark Webber's successful return to F1 action yesterday with the Red Bull Renault team, Sebastian Vettel was back in the new RB5 today and posted the third fastest time just a thousandth of a second slower than Hamilton.


Kazuki Nakajima continued with the Williams Toyota test programme and was fourth fastest while Renault finally got some decent mileage completed with its new R29 package.

Fernando Alonso took over testing duties from Nelson Piquet today and the former champion was able to complete an impressive 133 laps. While Alonso will mildly encouraged by the track time, the R29 remained firmly anchored at the bottom of the timesheets.

Testing continues on Friday.

Jerez - 12/02/2009
1 . S. Bourdais - Toro Rosso Ferrari STR3* - 1:18.493 (+ 0.000 ) - 126 laps
2 . L. Hamilton - McLaren Mercedes MP4-24 - 1:20.737 (+ 2.244 ) - 93 laps
3 . S. Vettel - Red Bull Renault RB5 - 1:20.738 (+ 2.245 ) - 92 laps
4 . K. Nakajima - Williams Toyota FW31 - 1:20.898 (+ 2.405 ) - 92 laps
5 . F. Alonso - Renault R29 - 1:21.307 (+ 2.814 ) - 133 laps.

*2008 package

Earl ALEXANDER
© CAPSIS International

 

Any reason as to why they are still running the 08 rear wing on the car???

 

That's a good question. My only guess is that they haven't finished R&D on the '09 wing yet. I'm absolutely blown away that Bourdais set the fastest time during testing by nearly 2 seconds! That just doesn't seem right!

 

Did we expect any less from the 2009 WDC??

 

No, I expect more! He shouldn't be getting beaten by a guy that looks like Sarah Palin!

 

the 2008 package on the STR obviously gives it an advantage over the 09 cars

 

hahahaha! My keyboard is now covered in red bull. Never made that connection lol

Yeah his time is pretty darn impressive

Didn't they have the 09 on the car previously??? I remember seeing pics, maybe just for show I guess.

 

Alex stole my thunder! I believe I first indicated this during one of our banter threads.

 

You were the first one to point that out. Sorry for not giving proper credit. It was definitely an astute observation though!

Actually, come to think of it, I think Peter Windsor pointed out Sebastien's uncanny resemblance to Sarah Palin on air at one point during the season as well...